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NYTs: Trump Asked Comey to End Flynn Investigation

I would imagine President Trump most likely did this because he had just fired former National Security Advisor Flynn and felt bad about it. Bad idea. I would also imagine, if this is true, that this is obstruction of justice, though I’m not a lawyer. And now, if there are tapes, the demands for them will cross all Party lines on Capitol Hill.

President Trump asked the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, to shut down the federal investigation into Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, in an Oval Office meeting in February, according to a memo Mr. Comey wrote shortly after the meeting.

“I hope you can let this go,” the president told Mr. Comey, according to the memo.

The existence of Mr. Trump’s request is the clearest evidence that the president has tried to directly influence the Justice Department and F.B.I. investigation into links between Mr. Trump’s associates and Russia.

Mr. Comey wrote the memo detailing his conversation with the president immediately after the meeting, which took place the day after Mr. Flynn resigned, according to two people who read the memo. The memo was part of a paper trail Mr. Comey created documenting what he perceived as the president’s improper efforts to influence a continuing investigation. An F.B.I. agent’s contemporaneous notes are widely held up in court as credible evidence of conversations.

The White House, in a statement released to White House reporters, denied the allegation:

On background: While the President has repeatedly expressed his view that General Flynn is a decent man who served and protected our country, the President has never asked Mr. Comey or anyone else to end any investigation, including any investigation involving General Flynn. The President has the utmost respect for our law enforcement agencies, and all investigations. This is not a truthful or accurate portrayal of the conversation between the President and Mr. Comey.

On background: Deputy Director McCabe said in his testimony last week that the WH had not interfered with any investigation.

18 Responses to NYTs: Trump Asked Comey to End Flynn Investigation

Flynn was cashiered because of coordinated leaks to the press, which were an actual crime.

So now they want to overthrow President Trump on a process charge, when his administration was arguably the victim?!

Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit is worth quoting at length here:

…What is clear is that they hope that if they gin up enough controversy, baseless or not, maybe it’ll give cover to an impeachment or 25 Amendment removal, or something. I don’t think it will happen and if it does — barring something a lot bigger and more uncontrovertible than anything they’ve come up with so far — you will have literal riots in the streets if Trump’s removed, far beyond anything you’ve seen from Democrat constituency groups like Black Lives Matter. Trump supporters have had it with the establishment, and are unlikely to go along quietly with a system they regard as deeply corrupt and devoted to their destruction. To the extent it’s interested in impeachment, the anti-Trump establishment, which likes to present itself as responsible and sensible, is playing with fire here, in a room full of gasoline that the establishment itself has pumped.

So Mr Comey released a memo today that he wrote 3 months ago, to discredit the boss that fired him? Who could have seen that coming? The real question is, if this matter was so serious, why did Comey wait for 3 months? Seems that Comey is the one obstructing Justice. Certainly it confirms Comey’s incompetence.

And no, this is not legally ‘obstruction of Justice’. There has to be some kind of threat associated with the request to meet that standard.

Second, exactly what else is in the FBI Directors Office that should be released to Congress. Why he might have lots of bad things about a whole bunch in Congress and the Government! While we are at it we should release J Hoovers files too! Looks like Congress need to open up the entire FBI and its files to everyone!

More interesting, is this breaks on the day an investigation confirms 1) Hilary’s E-mails were released to Wikileks by Seth Rich and, 2) who ordered the murder of Seth Rich for doing so (internet says ordered by SEIU’s Jennifer Palmieri).

Story falling apart quickly this evening. Last week it was Rod Rosenstein threatening to resign if Comey was fired, until some guy named Rod Rosenstein said it wasn’t true…then there was the story about Comey asking for more resources before he was fired, except that wasn’t true, either, according to Andrew McCabe, a Democrat.

The MSM continues to grasp at straws…they have no credibility whatsoever.

Althouse was saying that it’s DOUBLE hearsay: not only did Pravda On the Hudson not see the memo, but even if it DOES exist, we’re taking it on Comey’s word that the contents are, in fact, accurate.

Given that the man’s been derided as a partisan hack by both sides, that’s open for dispute.

And we’re finding this out three months after the fact because…?

“Mr. Comey and his aides perceived Mr. Trump’s comments as an effort to influence the investigation, but they decided that they would try to keep the conversation secret — even from the F.B.I. agents working on the Russia investigation — so the details of the conversation would not affect the investigation.”

But apparently, plastering the story all over the media, with the investigation still ongoing, somehow won’t affect it.

Bingo! It’s interesting how the day started with the WaPo story about Trump revealing classified info to the Russians last week and then late this afternoon we have the NYTimes story about the Comey memo regarding Trump and the Flynn investigation – all this stuff hitting the fan the same day we have Drudge starting the day with the Seth Rich story. Too coincidental. But, it clearly worked to distract from any coverage of Seth Rich’s murder and WikiLeaks.

Anyone can write any memo saying anything and postdate it to reflect what they want. Comey met with two members of the Intelligence committee before he left and did not bring this up or even mention it. Neither did he even suggest any of his so-called memos of meetings at the Congressional hearing where he would have been protected.This is a memo from “sources”, a convenient media term for “no proof”. Do I believe that the media should have confidential sources? Yes, verifiable ones.
The previous administration did whatever they wanted whenever they wanted and threatened and bullied those in disagreement with them. They unmasked Americans, wired their phones, and even threatened one reporter’s family. Where was the outrage then? Those things have been proven.
Gutter gossip seems to be the order of the day. Throw mud until something sticks, never mind if it’s true or not, partisan or not, disgraceful or not.
And by all means, let’s have the media telling us how to interpret what we see and hear. Impartiality no longer exists in the media. Just gossip, hearsay, innuendo, and vitriol. Repeating it doesn’t make it true, just makes it malicious.
“I hope” is not “Don’t do this or else”.

The effort to destroy the Trump presidency will continue until the very last minute of his four year term. By winning the Presidency, Trump kicked the butts of both the R and D royalty. He gave the corporate media a black eye and busted their noses and exposed them all for the incompetent, greedy buffoonish hypocrites they are. Their very public humiliation will motivate them to destroy Trump until the end of days.

Now all these forces are releasing their mogwai (remember the critters from the movie “Gremlins”) to create havoc and terror in the Trump White House. Trump broke all three rules when dealing with mogwai:

1. Do not expose the mogwai to bright lights or sunlight which will kill them (Trump constantly put the light of truth on the corrupt behavior of the Washington elites) ,

2. Do not let them get wet (Trump tried, initially, to be accommodating to them),

3. Never feed them after midnight (which is what Trump’s Twitter messages are doing, in essence).

Now the questions arise: who is feeding the Gremlins? Who is coordinating their activities and choice of “issues” to be outraged over on any given day? Who is writing the script for the Gremlins–which we can readily see are virtually the same words and phrases spoken in the same manner and similar timing? Who’s funding all this effort? How are the Gremlins coordinating their tactics and strategy? Who’s at the top of the pile yelling, “Do this!” “Say these words!” “Wait until Monday before you start talking about that!” etc.
Someday, we’ll know all the answers to these questions. For now we can only guess and watch the show.

Agree. The progressive left and other creatures of the Washington and corporate media swamp live in an alternative reality. Readership and viewership numbers are way down. People have been tuning them out for many years. Cable news gets from about 500,000 to 3 million viewers on their shows on average. What’s that, .001 percent to 1 percent of the US population per show? Network news shows get 5-7 million viewers each—2 percent or so of the population, and dropping year over year. That’s pathetic.